Ref: IRDAI/LIFE/CIR/GDL/174/10/2023 Oct 09, 2023

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Bima Vahak)

Guidelines, 2023

In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 14 (2) (e) of the Insurance Regulatory
and Development Authority Act,1999, the Authority, hereby issues the following
Guidelines:

1. Short Title and Commencement

a) These Guidelines are known as ‘Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority of India (Bima Vahak) Guidelines, 2023’
b) These shall come into force from the date of launch of Bima Vistaar*
(* Bima Vistaar is a comprehensive Insurance product which will be issued in due
course)

2. Objectives
a) To establish women centric dedicated distribution channel that is focused on
enhancing insurance inclusion and creating awareness in every village / Gram
Panchayat, thereby, improving accessibility and availability of insurance in every
nook and corner of the country.
b) To identify and develop resources locally who understand and appreciate local
needs and enjoy the trust and confidence of the local population of their village /
Gram Panchayat.

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3. Definitions: In these Guidelines, unless the context requires otherwise,

a) Bima Vahak means

i. an individual (hereinafter referred to as Individual Bima Vahak) or

ii. a legal person (hereinafter referred as Corporate Bima Vahak) registered

in accordance with the respective laws of India

engaged for providing the services under these Guidelines

4. Engagement/Appointment of Bima Vahak:
a) Insurers may for the purpose of solicitation of insurance business and to facilitate
policy and claims servicing:
i) engage the services of a Corporate Bima Vahak and/or
ii) directly appoint Individual Bima Vahaks.
b) The insurer shall be responsible for all the actions and the conduct of Bima Vahaks
engaged by them.
c) The Corporate Bima Vahaks shall:
i) appoint individuals as Bima Vahaks, as per the terms and conditions of the
agreement with the Insurer and shall be responsible for all their actions and
the conduct
ii) solicit insurance product(s), facilitate policy and claims servicing only through
its appointed Bima Vahaks.
d) A Bima Vahak shall:
i) sell and service Bima Vistaar and such other insurance products specified by
the Authority
ii) sell and service only using handheld electronic communication devices that
are directly integrated to the electronic platform of the insurers;
iii) not be allowed to collect any fees or charges from the policyholder or
prospective policyholder, other than the insurance premium;

e) The Life Insurance Council and General Insurance Council shall be jointly
responsible for establishing a common set of operational and conduct standards
applicable to Bima Vahaks. Such common standards shall include qualifying
minimum educational standards, scales of commissions, training requirements
(including customer due diligence/ KYC process, Personal Data Protection, policy
handling and claims service support), standard terms of appointment (including
due diligence requirements, issuance of identification cards), maintenance of

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 database including confidentiality of the data of all policies solicited through Bima
Vahaks and other operational and compliance aspects . The councils may jointly
review the said standards periodically.

f) Every Insurer shall have a Board approved policy in respect of matters related to
Bima Vahaks in accordance with the standards set jointly by the council under
4(e).

g) Every insurer shall endeavor to engage Individual Bima Vahaks and / or Corporate
Bima Vahaks with the focus to progressively achieve coverage of every Gram
Panchayat. Bima Vahaks shall be deployed in each Gram Panchayat before 31st
December 2024. Lead Insurers of each State / Union Territory (as in Annexure)
shall coordinate deployment of resources to ensure maximum coverage of Gram
Panchayats as per the following structure:
S.No Insurer Gram Panchayats to be covered
within the State / Union Territory*
1 Lead Life Insurer (s) 40%
2 Lead Non-Life Insurer (s) 40%
3 Lead Health Insurer (s) 5%
4 All other Insurers together minimum 15%

*Thereafter, depending on the requirements and demand, Insurers are free to

engage and deploy as many Bima Vahaks as may be required.

5. Scope of activities of Bima Vahak

a) The scope of activities that may be assigned to the Bima Vahaks may include:
i) Filling of proposal forms, KYC requirements through hand held electronic
communication devices and issuance of insurance policies.
ii) Coordination and support in policy and claims related servicing, as
applicable.
iii) Support in claims settlements.

6. KYC Compliance
Every Insurer shall remain responsible for ensuring KYC and AML compliance with
respect to the policies sourced through Bima Vahaks.

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7. Collection of premium
a) Handheld device shall enable the prospects / policyholders to make premium
payment through electronic mode to enable direct remittance of premiums to the
designated bank account.
b) On receipt of premium, electronic message acknowledgement shall be issued
immediately in either the local or regional language or Hindi or English, directly to
the registered mobile number and / or registered email-id of the prospects or
policyholders as per the choice of the prospect / policyholder.

8. Internal controls and Infrastructure

Every insurer shall put in place appropriate systems processes, internal controls and
infrastructure to enable seamless interface with all Bima Vahaks for providing
necessary support services for their scope of activities.

9. Termination of the Bima Vahaks

a) In the event of the termination of an Individual Bima Vahak all the insurance
policies serviced by the Bima Vahak shall be allotted, to another Bima Vahak
preferably within the same territory.
b) Every Insurer shall make necessary arrangements to ensure uninterrupted service
to the policyholders, including in situations where the termination is of a Corporate
Bima Vahak.

10. Consumer Protection Measures

a) Insurers and the Corporate Bima Vahaks shall:
i) issue physical identification cards to the Individual Bima Vahaks. The physical
identification card may be supplemented by online ‘electronic ID’s’. Every
identification shall bear an ‘expiry date’ and shall be revalidated by a freshly
issued identification.
ii) lay down suitable monitoring framework to ensure that solicitation and sales
are of only products as allowed by the Authority.
b) Every Corporate Bima Vahak at each of its retail outlets shall display:
i) the name(s) of the Bima Vahak(s), name of the appointing insurer and
telephone number(s) of the Branch or other controlling office of the insurer.

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 ii) a signage indicating the services offered by the Bima Vahak(s).
iii) prominently the contact details of designated Grievance Redressal Officer of
the insurer.
iv) prominently the name and contact details of the Complaints Handling Officer
designated to specifically address complaints against Bima Vahaks.
v) the contact details of the Insurance Ombudsman.

11. Complaints Handling Officer

Every insurer shall identify a nearest local office to every Gram Panchayat and
designate a Complaints Handling Officer in such office, to specifically attend to the
complaints, if any, against Bima Vahak(s). The Insurer shall establish the necessary
complaints handling process to ensure speedy resolution.

12. Miscellaneous
a) In order to remove any difficulties in respect of the application or interpretation of
any of the provisions of these Guidelines, the Chairperson of the Authority may
issue appropriate clarifications from time to time.

b) These Guidelines are being issued to enable insurers to make necessary

arrangements for onboarding and training of Bima Vahaks. The effective date of
the guidelines will be notified separately.

MEENA
Digitally signed by MEENA KUMARI JAGGALI
DN: c=IN, o=INSURANCE REGULATORY AND
DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, ou=MINISTRY
OF FINANACE,

KUMARI
pseudonym=7f08f8fd395acf0ad51e57f313b
2bbefb10b921e119c2396c9497da6594fbb8
8, postalCode=500032, st=TELANGANA,
serialNumber=fdae3ede01d6d2cd671d44db

JAGGALI b1561cb6354986752faff5cc5d0fb99ed34156
79, cn=MEENA KUMARI JAGGALI
Date: 2023.10.09 17:18:54 +05'30'

ED (Life)

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